1. Field of the Invention
A plug-in connector arrangement includes a terminal block containing a chamber in which are mounted a horizontal bus bar having a transverse wall, and a resilient contact having a fixed horizontal leg portion, an intermediate portion bent upwardly from the first leg portion, and an outwardly biased second leg portion reversely bent back above the first leg portion. The second leg portion contains a clamping end portion that extends through a conductor opening contained in the first leg portion. The clamping portion includes at least two discrete clamping surfaces so arranged that when a bare conductor is inserted into the conductor opening, the conductor circumferential surface is selectively engaged by one or more of the clamping surfaces in accordance with the diametrical size of the conductor. The conductor is biased by the clamping portion toward electrical engagement with the bus bar transverse wall.
2. Description of Related Art
Plug-in connectors including resilient contact members are well known in the patented prior art, as evidenced, for example, by the U.S. patents to Drews et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,893,286, Beege et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,233, Despang U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,162, Fricke et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,855, Oesterhaus U.S. Pat. No. 7,232,324, and Holterhoff et al U.S. Pat. No. 7,287,999.
Generally, these resilient contact members include a free clamping leg that press a conductor toward electrical engagement with a bus bar. According to one particular design, there is formed between the free clamping leg of the pressure spring and the bus bar in the contacted state a kind of V at whose tip the conductor is clamped firmly between the bus bar and the free end of the clamping leg, thereby to obtain the electrical contact. It is also known that one can bend the free end of the clamping leg around against the plug-in direction of the conductor in order to make sure that the clamping leg will rest in a linear manner upon the edge of the conductor so as to increase the resistance against any unintentional loosening of the conductor out of the clamping point.
As a rule, the area of the conductors to be contacted is limited, especially when the clamping leg can be swung around only by a small angle due to the geometric conditions. The maximum swing angle, as a rule, then also determines the maximum possible diameter that the conductors, which have to be contacted, can have. This entails the disadvantage that, for example, conducting pins having a greater diameter are not contactable.
The present invention was developed to avoid the above and other drawbacks of the known plug-in type of electrical connector.